I recorded a few snapshots of my London life during the month of March.
In the video you will see Gordon Square and Reading Room at Welcome Collection in Bloomsbury where I often have my lunch breaks, my afternoon and evening walks in Soho, Trafalgar Square and Russell Square.
My favourite activity of the recent weeks was a visit to the Petrie Museum of Egyptian and Sudanese Archaeology which was established in 1892. The museum contains over 80,000 objects and is located near Gower Street, right across Waterstones bookstore which inhabits the old gothic building.
I also went to the Garden Cinema in Covent Garden to see the film On Falling directed by Laura Carreira. What a wonderful and compelling film this was!
On Falling provides such an honest depiction of the ordinary life, with its struggles, with focus on poor working conditions, and living from a paycheque to a paycheque in contemporary Great Britain.
Aurora, the heroine of On Falling is working as a picker in a warehouse. She lives in a shared accommodation with many other immigrants who try to find their place in the world. Their life evolves around lack of money, lack of ability to have any other life after work due to exhaustion caused by work, lack of privacy and lack of financial security. Securing another better paid employment often depends on one’s ability to take a day oft to attend the interview which is almost impossible for many people working in poorer conditions. On Falling offers such a real portrayal of the life that I also experienced in the past. Securing a better employment does not only depend on one’s skills and experiences, and one’s ability to take time off to attend the interview. It’s also about not being exhausted physically and mentally due to the current job so one can perform well during the interview. It’s about being able to afford self-care, privacy and interview clothes. Lack of financial resources and poor mental health hugely affects one’s confidence. Even the diet that the person who works in poor conditions can afford and how it can further affect their well-being is depicted in the film. The end of On Falling does not provide any resolution; there is no happy or sad ending. The film also is a reminder not to judge people by their jobs or titles as for many people often these are just stations in life. I love how the complexity of life was portrayed in the film. I highly recommend this film!
